BORIS Johnson has been urged to make a £20 increase to universal credit permanent.
The Prime Minister was asked by Ian Blackford, SNP Westminster leader, if the current upllift in the payment could be continued after the planned end date fo April 2021.
He told Mr Johnson it was even more essential with "mass unemployment looming", and said: "With mass unemployment looming, having the right social security measures in place to help families over the long term is vital. The Chancellor has so far refused to commit to make the £20 Universal Credit uplift permanent.
“This means that 16 million people face losing an income equivalent of £1,040 overnight. Will the Prime Minister now commit to making the £20 uplift to Universal Credit permanent?”
However the Prime Minister would not commit to a permanent increase, instead telling the MP for Ross, Skye and Lochabar that he was " proud that we’ve been able to uprate it in the way that we have".
He said: "We will continue to support people across the country with the biggest cash increase in the national living wage this year, and the result of UC so far has been that there are 200,000 fewer people in absolute poverty now than there were in 2010.”
Mr Blackford replied that the Prime Minister had "an opportunity, here now" to "do the right thing" and make the increase permanent, accusing him of ignoring his original question.
Mr Johnson said:" It is vital that we tackle poverty in this country, that’s why this Government is so proud of what we did with the national living wage and what I can tell him on Universal Credit is that we’re putting another £1.7 billion into UC by 2023/2024 and if that doesn’t give him the answer that he wants then he can ask again next week."
Sir Keir Starmer challenged Mr Johnson to provide evidence for the reason behind the 10pm closing time for pubs and restaurants, and to explain why some areas have had local lockdowns while others have not.
He said 19 of the 20 areas subjected to local measures for two months had seen infection rates increase, and questioned why constituencies such as Mr Johnson’s were spared extra restrictions while northern seats with similar levels of coronavirus were not.
He said: “The Prime Minister can’t explain why an area goes into restrictions, he can’t explain what the different restrictions are, and he can’t explain how restrictions end,” Sir Keir said.
“This is getting ridiculous.”
The Prime Minister insisted the Government would “continue with our package to suppress the virus not just nationally but locally and regionally as well”.
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